Georgia, Clemson QBs get their rematch
The Bulldogs’ JT Daniels, above, faced the Tigers’ D.J. Uiagalelei in a California prep showdown. Their college teams meet Saturday in a top-5 game.
Quarterbacks D.J. Uiagalelei of second-ranked Clemson and JT Daniels of fifth-ranked Georgia will be on opposite sidelines once again in Week 1.
These teams haven’t faced each other since 2014, but Uiagalelei and Daniels did in highprofile prep games in the Los Angeles area. They both played in the prestigious Trinity League, which was named by MaxPreps the toughest high school football conference in the country.
Daniels, two years older, got the best of Uiagalelei both times in 2017, once in the regular season and again in the playoffs as Mater Dei Catholic beat Saint John Bosco.
“That was a long time ago,” Uiagalelei said. “It was my first time starting and they were the No. 1 team in the nation.”
Daniels, a junior who would leave early for the University Southern California, finished the two games 80 of 119 passing (67.2%) for 1,231 yards and 10 touchdowns with two interceptions. Uiagalelei was 78 of 117 (66.7%) for 914 yards and five touchdowns with no interceptions. Daniels threw for five touchdowns in the playoff game, while Uiagalelei was 20for-21 with 172 yards and two TDs.
While it’s an interesting rematch on a personal level, Uiagalelei doesn’t really see it that way.
“I don’t think so. It’s not unfinished business,” he said.
He was the freshman backup last season to Trevor Lawrence, who led Clemson to a national championship in 2018 and was the No. 1 overall NFL draft pick this year by the Jacksonville Jaguars. Uiagalelei started two games and set records in both. Against Boston College he passed for 342 yards and was a driving force in the largest comeback (from down 18 points) in the history of Memorial Stadium in Clemson, South Carolina. At Notre Dame he passed for 435 yards, most by a Clemson rookie and most by anyone against the Irish.
Daniels, the 2017 national high school player of the year, was a freshman starter for Southern Cal in 2018, suffered a knee injury in 2019 and then transferred to Georgia, where he started the last four games of 2020.
“He’s a great leader and makes great decisions on the field,” Uiagalelei said. “He was a great runner back in high school, he could really spin the ball and he was good at extending plays. He was always smart, had a great understanding of what defenses were trying to do and could pick people apart.”
After Daniels left the Trinity League, Uiagalelei became the best quarterback in the conference.
In 2017, he took the starting job from Re-al Mitchell, who went to Iowa State and is now at Temple. In 2019, Uiagalelei led Saint John Bosco to a state championship and No. 1 national ranking, along the way knocking off Mater Dei and Bryce Young, who is now Alabama’s quarterback. Ryan Hilinski, who went to South Carolina and is now at Northwestern, was a senior that season at league foe Orange Lutheran.
Uiagalelei that year threw for 4,225 yards and 48 touchdowns with only two interceptions.